


Would you still love me anyway?

by 7SabSantos53



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: #bughead, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7SabSantos53/pseuds/7SabSantos53
Summary: "How do we move on?""Praying that Juggie and Ronnie will forgive us for being so selfish?"Archie smiled as he said: "It looks like a good plan to me."
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper/Veronica Lodge/Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Would you still love me anyway?

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a fanfic before. Even though I wasn’t watching episode 17 of the fourth season (and as I’m glad I didn’t watch it!), I couldn’t sleep, the writers even took my sleep. However, maybe this is a good thing, I was thinking about all the possibilities of what would happen next, and here it is. Varchie fans, I think in the middle of it, you're going to hate me. Bughead fans, maybe you hate it too. But Barchie fans, well, I advise you not to read it, because you are DEFINITELY going to hate it. But if anyone likes it, let me know. I still don't know how I feel about what I wrote, but that's what I would do, if it were in my hands to try to save the show now.
> 
> Oh, and English is not my first language, so there will probably be errors. 
> 
> This is based on the 4x17 and 4x18 promo.

She didn't know what the hell had gone through her head. She had kissed Archie. She had omitted that from Jug. And she had quarreled with him earlier for omitting to get in Yale. And now she was hiding from him that she had kissed the boy who was supposed to be their best friend. And to make matters worse, here she was, in the bunker, in the HER AND JUG bunker, lying with Archie at her side, holding hands with him. Was it not even plausible for her to say she was confused, after all she had lived with Jug? She certainly knew who she wanted. And it certainly wasn't the boy beside her.  
"I was thinking that a part of me always thought we would get here. When I fell in love with Ronnie, I was afraid that in the end, we wouldn't be able to escape it." She get back to reality when heard him talking.  
"I don't think we can use our childhood as an excuse for what we did."  
"Remember when I proposed to you when we were kids?"  
"Yes, we were so innocent. Life was easier. Maybe that's it."  
"Definitely easier. We've been through a lot since then, haven't we?"  
"But even so, we were happy. We both fell in love with our soul mates, and we are all friends. We both know that none of the four of us works otherwise."  
"I think we made a big mistake this time. How do we move on?"  
"Praying that Juggie and Ronnie will forgive us for being so selfish?"  
Archie smiled as he said: "It looks like a good plan to me." 

Admitting that she and Archie were driven by nostalgia and anger into a stupid kiss was the easy part. Destroying those memories was more complicated, but she knew the worst was yet to come. The look on the face of the man she loved, when telling what she had done.

In the front house, things were no better.  
"Are you really expecting me to just forgive that? "She almost screamed. "That after all, I accept you run into the arms of another woman whenever we fight?"  
"Ronnie, I ..."  
"I already heard you Archie. I know you're not confused, that you don't want to be with her, you don't need to repeat any of that, but listen to me Andrews, and listen to me very well. I'm not breaking up with you for the kiss, for taking so long to tell. It's just because I don't trust you anymore."  
Even minutes, maybe hours after he saw her leave the room, Archie still thought that deep down, he also knew that she was right not to trust. 

"You did what?"  
She knew that he had heard and understood, she also knew that he was asking because he still did not believe.  
"Jug, please listen m ..."  
"So it's finally happening, he changed his mind."  
"No Jug, please, at least let me explain."  
"Betty, please, you know where to find Archie, if that's what you want, you might as well avoid the conversation and go over there." It was the last thing she heard him say, before she saw him go. 

He heard footsteps going to where he was. When he needed to get away from Betty, when it hurt too much to know what she had done, he remembered when she told him where Polly was hiding when she ran away from the Sisters, and there his was. (He needed to create a mental reminder to have a place to run to that no one knew where he was.) But it wasn't the blond ponytail face that got to him.  
"I know that in normal families older siblings don't tell their little sister about fights with their girlfriend. I know that usually the little sister who tells about a broken heart. And then the brother threatens to kill whoever hurt her. Then they laugh, and in time everything passes. But we were never a normal family, so if you want to talk about it."  
It was probably the last thing he wanted to do, but there he was crying with his little sister beside him. How did he take care of her in childhood, since their parents never did that, to have her comfort him? (Another mental reminder to create: the little sister was apparently growing up really fast.) And it was the image of the two seated listening to their favorite songs that Betty found much later, when she tried again. 

"At least listen to me."  
He sighed before finally agreeing. It hurt that he wanted to agree so badly.  
"Really?" The voices of the sister still next to them and the girl she loved in front of them said in unison.  
(Another mental reminder for later: it was nice for the sister to take care of him. But next time he needed to remember that she could be very curious when she wanted to.)  
"Wait." He said before going away with Jellybean for just her hear him. "JB, you are really the best little sister in the world. It would have been the worst hours of my life if you hadn't shown up."  
"Are you really going to come back with her? I don't know what happened, but I can see that she broke your heart. It made me almost discredit fairy tales that I never liked."  
"One day you will love someone very much. And that person will hurt you, sometimes more than you thought he was capable of. And never think you need to forgive or break up because other people did it in a certain way, the decision will always be yours. But you will realize that when you love someone more than life itself, everything that hurts hurts less than losing that person. And then you'll remember that I did things that you thought were stupid, because I'm not going to stop loving Betty, JB, I just know I won't. So you will think: oh brother, I wish we were both just a little bit meaner sometimes."  
"I think I can imagine that."  
"Maybe on that day you might even like fairy tales." He joked.  
"NEVER, Jones less mean than the one who speaks to you." That's what he heard her answer as she walked away laughing. And then, he and Betty were alone again. 

"Do you want to speak first?" She asked.  
"Did you go to Archie?" That was all he managed to say.  
"No, and even if you don't forgive me, I won't, Jug. I don't want to be with him. I want to be with you. I went to Veronica to apologize, although it didn't work, and then I wondered what to say if you agreed to listen to me."  
"Well, at least that was a good start."  
"Okay. First, I have no excuse for what I did. It was wrong, selfish, and mean. I don't even deserve to be forgiven, but I'm so selfish that I'm going to beg and fight for it. When we fought, I was afraid that our future didn't matter to you. That was scary, and I could only remember the old days, when everything was easy." She knew she would end up crying at some point, but she didn't know it would start anytime soon, yet she struggled to continue. "Those memories made me kiss Archie, and that was very wrong. Again, nothing gave me the right to do that. But I never doubted who I wanted. However, remembering all our years of friendship moved me a lot. It made me think of how easy everything was before. But it was easy because we were innocent. So much has happened since then. And I was so embarrassed by all this, that I couldn't tell you. I never meant to hurt you ..."  
"But you did." He interrupted her for the first time. "After telling me that I was the only one for you, you kissed someone else because of an argument."  
By now, she was sobbing from crying, and it only got worse when she looked at Jug's face, and saw him with some tears in her eyes too. "I know I did that. And I can't forgive myself for hurting you. I don't know what went on in my head, I don't know how I was able to do that. But there is something I know: I would do anything so that we could try again. I would do anything to regain your confidence. I know I love you more than anything Jug, and that's exactly why, even if you don't give me the forgiveness I don't deserve, I don't go after Archie. Or anyone. I made my biggest mistake with you. But I beg you to let me prove that I love you. In this long journey of ours, we both made a lot of mistakes, we both regret it, we both apologize, we both move on. You always took care of me. You were the one who was always there for me. And I know I was the one to screw it up this time. Please Jug. Let me give you reasons for not giving up on me. From us, please." She now lowered her head from crying. All she was thinking was: I should say more. I needed to make him see that I was being sincere. She loved him, and would do anything to show that she was sorry. But when she thought he would never forgive her, she heard him say, "okay." Just that, nothing about her speech, he stood up, hugged her, and pulled her out. During dinner it was as if nothing had happened. The Cooper-Jones had dinner together and then she and Jug went to the bedroom. When she got there, she knew he wasn't sleeping, he was pretending to avoid her. She knew him well enough to know that. Not knowing what else to do, she lay down beside him, and after a long time, slept. 

When she fell asleep, he withdrew from the room, being in the same room as she was unbearable. He knew the only place open at this hour, and headed for Pop's. 

Veronica recognized that hat. But as she approached, she realized that she knew the face of a broken heart even better, it was as if Jughead's face at that moment, reflected the state of her heart.  
"What did you decide to do about it?" She didn't even need to explain, because the answer came next.  
"I forgave her."  
"Really? Why?"  
"She breaks my heart V, she drives me crazy, and I can't stop loving her. I don't know what to do about it."  
"When she told you, did you think about breaking up?"  
"I thought about getting away, trying, I'm not strong for that. The idea of meeting new people and trying again that touches some, seems like a waste of time. Why am I going to be with someone else, if I know I will not stop loving her? I love her, I want to be with her."  
"In that case, maybe you should be with her."  
"Why can't I even try?"  
"And why would you do that? Think about your father, he spent 25 years living a lie, just to go back to his teenage girlfriend years later. Look at the time they loose. Do you want you and Betty to make the same mistake? Meet new people, get married, maybe have kids, just to be together later? When can you try again now?"  
"No. I don't want to waste our lives."  
"Exactly, it will take time to stop hurting, but I know you guys. You were made for each other, you've been through everything bad that exists, and you always got over it."  
"Thanks, V. And how are you?  
"Trying to deal with it all. I'm going to Havard instead of Yale, I asked my dad, he got his way, it was what he wanted."  
"But not you, why did you decide that?"  
"I need to be away from any possibility of someone I know here. It will be a fresh start, just like when I came to Riverdale. I hope this time will be a good one." She didn't even have to say it, he knew she wanted to get away from Betty, and honestly understood.  
"But hey." She continued. "I'm glad we just talked, I don't know why we didn't do it more often."  
"To be honest, neither do I." 

Upon arriving home, he finally opened up with Betty. About the conversation he had with Veronica. About how he felt about Archie. And finally they managed to reach a consensus on how to try again. What mattered was that they were not giving up on each other. 

But Betty knew she needed to do more, to prove to Jug that she was determined, she needed to cut ties with Archie, and she did. She also knew that her boyfriend would never forgive Archie. So, that was it. It was the end of anything what the four had, things would never be the same.

Later, lying on Jughead's chest, in THEIR bed, she could only think that any effort by both of them was worth it. 

And it was only many years later, when they even inadvertently found themselves together again in Riverdale, that they learned that time was indeed the best medicine. When the four were finally able to sit at the same table at Pop's and smile, just like old times. Betty and Jughead also noticed that gradually, Archie and Veronica were getting closer again. 

And those who knew the history and watched from afar agreed: finally, as in the old days.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't feel right about Jughead forgiving her right away, but I think the fact that he said he doesn't see a future in which they aren't together made me think he would forgive. But if the writers wanted drama, here's the drama! Varchies, forgive me for that. But when a betrayal occurs, there are only these two options, some forgive, others do not. Not that anything can justify betrayal, but some choose to forgive. And I wanted to show the two possibilities here. Unfortunately, on the show, two potential couples were destroyed by poor writing. We can only suffer from that. Because the writers are not sorry.


End file.
